Related papers: Statistical strong lensing. I. Constraints on the …
Strong gravitational lensing is a useful probe of both the intrinsic properties of the lenses and the cosmological parameters of the universe. The large number of model parameters and small sample of observed lens systems, however, have…
Gravitational lensing has become one of the most powerful tools available for investigating the 'dark side' of the universe. Cosmological strong gravitational lensing, in particular, probes the properties of the dense cores of dark matter…
We present a maximum-likelihood analysis of galaxy-galaxy lensing effects in galaxy clusters and in the field. The aim is to determine the accuracy and robustness of constraints that can be obtained on galaxy halo properties in both…
I show that the lensing masses of the SLACS sample of strong gravitational lenses are consistent with the stellar masses determined from population synthesis models using the Salpeter IMF. This is true in the context of both General…
We investigate how strong gravitational lensing can test contemporary models of massive elliptical (ME) galaxy formation, by combining a traditional decomposition of their visible stellar distribution with a lensing analysis of their mass…
We present a weak gravitational lensing analysis of 22 early-type strong lens galaxies, based on deep HST images obtained as part of the Sloan Lens ACS Survey. Using the most advanced techniques to control systematic uncertainties related…
Gravitational lensing and stellar dynamics provide two complementary, nearly orthogonal, constraints on the mass distribution of early-type lens galaxies. This allows the luminous and dark-matter distribution in higher-redshift (z>0.1)…
In recent years, it has become possible to detect individual dark matter subhalos near images of strongly lensed extended background galaxies. Typically, only the most massive subhalos in the strong lensing region may be detected this way.…
Upcoming deep optical surveys, such as the Vera C. Rubin Observatory Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST), will scan the sky to unprecedented depths, detecting billions of galaxies. However, this amount of detections will lead to the…
Over the past decade advancements in the understanding of several astrophysical phenomena have allowed us to infer a concordance cosmological model that successfully accounts for most of the observations of our universe. This has opened up…
In these lectures I give an overview of gravitational lensing, concentrating on theoretical aspects, including derivations of some of the important results. Topics covered include the determination of surface mass densities of intervening…
We present a detailed strong lensing analysis of an HST/ACS legacy dataset for the first gravitational lens, Q0957+561. With deep imaging we identify 24 new strongly lensed features, which we use to constrain mass models. We model the…
Galaxy-galaxy lensing is rapidly becoming one of the most promising means to accurately measure the average relation between galaxy properties and halo mass. In order to obtain a signal of sufficient signal-to-noise, one needs to stack many…
The subtle and unique imprint of dark matter substructure on extended arcs in strong lensing systems contains a wealth of information about the properties and distribution of dark matter on small scales and, consequently, about the…
We derive cosmological constraints from the probability distribution function (PDF) of evolved large-scale matter density fluctuations. We do this by splitting lines of sight by density based on their count of tracer galaxies, and by…
Weak lensing provides a direct measure of the distribution of mass in the universe, and is therefore a uniquely powerful probe of dark matter. Weak lensing can also be used to measure the twin phenomenon of dark energy, via its effect upon…
LISA might detect gravitational waves from mergers of massive black hole binaries strongly lensed by intervening galaxies (Sereno et al. 2010). The detection of multiple gravitational lensing events would provide a new tool for cosmography.…
We address the question of how well the density profile of galaxy clusters can be determined by combining strong lensing and velocity dispersion data. We use cosmological dark matter simulations of clusters to test the reliability of the…
Constraining the distribution of small-scale structure in our universe allows us to probe alternatives to the cold dark matter paradigm. Strong gravitational lensing offers a unique window into small dark matter halos ($<10^{10} M_\odot$)…
Microlensing of stars in strongly lensed galaxies can lead to temporary extreme magnification factors ($\mu\!>\!1000$), enabling their detection at high redshifts. Following the discovery of Icarus, several stars at cosmological distances…